The 36-year-old geologist from Eagle River was recently honored by the Alaska Journal of Commerce as one of Alaska’s “Top Forty Under 40,” an annual compilation of some of the state’s top young achievers. (The Alaska Journal of Commerce is owned by the Binkley Company, which also owns the Chugiak-Eagle River Star.)

Nutter and the other honorees were recognized at a ceremony held April 27 at the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage. She was presented the award by fellow Chugiak High alumnus John Sims, the event’s keynote speaker and a 2013 Top Forty honoree.

Like a rainbow arcing over Eagle River Road, students from Gruening Middle School brought a big splash of color to nearby Homestead Elementary last week.

On a sunny Wednesday morning, 19 members of Rachel Wall’s eighth-grade art class made the short walk between the schools to hand-deliver a batch of freshly painted chairs to Kim Madill’s kindergarten classroom. Sporting everything from abstract designs to colorful animals, the tiny chairs served as both the students’ final project and a way for the middle-schoolers to leave their mark.

UPDATE (May 8, 2018) After this story was posted online, another report of a broken window was reported at the McDonald Center. According to Anchorage Police, facility was burglarized on May 5, when someone broke into the building by breaking the front window. Once inside, the miscreants broke a clock and poured juice from a fridge onto the floor. The center also had a window broken in mid-April.

ORIGINAL STORY:

Reports of vandalism aren’t on the rise in Chugiak-Eagle River, but statistics won’t un-break any of the windows at Fire Lake Elementary School.

Not many people can call themselves national champions. Zach Plucinski can do it in two countries.

On Sunday, April 29, the 17-year-old from Eagle River scored the first goal in the Notre Dame Hounds’ 5-1 win over Quebec’s Cantonniers de Magog in the final of the Telus Cup, Canada’s national Midget (18U) hockey championship.

“It was a really big goal,” Plucinski said Thursday by phone from Wilcox, Saskatchewan, where he attends the College of Notre Dame, an elite prep school known for turning out high-caliber hockey talent.

More than a year after an Anchorage Assembly memo called for broad changes at the Harry J. McDonald Center in Eagle River, the center’s manager continues to issue optimistic financial reports. But one item still hasn’t been addressed: the two unfilled seats on the Fire Lake Arena Management Inc. (FLAMI) board of directors.